The Real NBA Awards

With the San Antonio Spurs taking a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals after their vicious 112-77 annihilation of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2, the most scintillating and thrilling early rounds of the playoffs in recent memory are moving towards what could be a colossal confrontation in the 2014 NBA Finals.

A few weeks ago, we asserted that San Antonio was the best and most exciting team in the league. Some scoffed at that initially, but they’re beginning to come around, especially with how they’ve made Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, one of the league’s most dynamic and explosive young combos, look more like Lenny and Squiggy than the second-coming of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp lately, after having previously folded a young and talented Portland Trail Blazers team like a piece of cheap lawn furniture in the second round.

It’s tough to see the Thunder at such a disadvantage on this big stage, but even if Ibaka was at full strength, they’d still be hard pressed to solve this Spurs puzzle, which is about as complicated as understanding the laws of thermodynamics. In Chinese!

The Spurs are chasing their fifth title of the Tim Duncan era, while the Miami Heat are trying to accomplish something unprecedented in the modern era. Since the NBA and ABA merged, only the Magic Johnson-Lakers and the Larry Bird-Celtics of the 1980’s have made four consecutive appearances in the finals, but neither of them pulled off a three-peat in the middle of it.

If Miami can dispatch the pesky Pacers, we’ll have a rematch of last year’s delicious Finals match-up. With the Heat down 3-2 in that series, LeBron James delivered 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in the classic Game 6, 103-100 overtime victory that is one of the greatest Finals games ever played.

Epic Spurs vs Heat NBA Finals 2013 Game 6 Highlights
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